Hospital bed bell cord anchor



March 10, 1959 H, 1 HELVERSON 2,876,464

HOSPITAL BED( BELL CORD ANCHOR Filed Aug. 27,- 1956 United States PatentO HOSPITAL BED BELL CORD ANCHOR Helen I. Helverson, Carthage, Mo.

Application August 27, 1956, Serial No. 606,317

2 Claims. (Cl. 5-317) This invention relates to hospital roomaccessories and more particularly to an anchor adapted to be affixed toa sheet on a hospital bed, the most important object hereof being toprovide a bell signal anchor for releasably holding the signal in aposition readily accessible to a patient lying in the bed.

An equally important object of the instant invention is to provide abell signal anchor as above identified wherein is utilized a circulardisc of flexible material and to which is attached a looped tape forreleasably holding the bell signal.

Also an important object of this invention is to provide a bell signalanchor wherein the bell signal holding loop is affixed to the circulardisc substantially equidistantly from the peripheral edge of the disc soas to equalize lateral strain on the latter.

A further important object is to provide a bell signal anchor in whichthe circular disc is folded and refolded upon itself to present acentrally disposed tuck extending thereacross and which is adapted toreceive the free ends of a retainer tape and which is held in place bysuitable lines of stitching.

Other important objects of the instant invention, as well as details ofconstruction, will become obvious as the following specificationprogresses.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a fragmentary, perspective view of a hospital bed wherein abell signal anchor embodying the concepts of the instant invention asafixed to a sheet thereof.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the instant invention and beingbroken away for details of construction; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, transverse, fragmentary, crosssectional viewtaken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

A bell signal anchor embodying the principles of the instant inventionis shown perspectively in Fig. 1 of the drawing and designated broadlyby the numeral 10, it being apparent from the drawing that anchor isadapted to be affixed to a sheet 12 which has been placed over themattress (not shown) of a hospital bed 14.

Anchor 10 preferably comprises a circular disc 16 of highly flexiblematerial which may be the same as that from which sheet 12 is made,namely, muslin. It is manifest however, that disc 16 may be made of anysuitable material having the desired characteristics of flexibility,washability and relatively high tensile strength.

The peripheral edge of disc 16 is folded over to present a hem 18 whichis secured to the lowermost face of disc 16 by a circular line ofstitching 20. As is clearly apparent from Fig. 2 of the drawing, disc 16is folded upon itself to present a first fold 22 and then refolded uponitself to present a fold 24 opening in the opposite direction. Thus,there is formed by folds 22 and 24, a` tuck 26 which is disposedcentrally of disc 16 and extends thereacross.

An elongated, flexible tying tape 28 has a pair of free ends 30 and 32which are disposed within tuck 26 equi- 2,876,464 Patented Mar. 10, 1959lCC distantly between the ends thereof. Tape 28 may be convenientlyformed of woven cotton material rebent upon itself to form a relativelynarrow band, the outermost edges of which are secured together by a lineof stitching 34. Because of the provision of lines of stitching 36extending through folds 22 and 24 and free ends 30 and 32, tape 28presents a loop 38 which is adapted to releasably hold a bell signal 40in a manner hereinafter4 to be described.

It can now be ascertained that because of the provision of stitching 36,tape 28 is securely aixed to disc 16 substantially in the centerthereof. It should be noted that it is generally preferable to provide aline of stitching 42 through the outermost marginal edge of fold 22 andthrough the adjacent face 44 of disc 16 to ythereby close tuck 26 alongthe entire length thereof.

Having reference to Figure 1 of the drawing, it can be seen that sheet12 is of the contour-type which is adapted to be placed over themattress of hospital bed 14 and disc 16 may be suitably secured to theuppermost surface 46 of sheet 12 by any suitable means but whichconventionally may be a line of stitching 48 through hem 18.

It is contemplated that discs 16 be sewn to sheet 12 prior to the usethereof and thus become a permanent fixture on the sheet. In thisrespect it should be noted that disc 16, when secured to sheet 12,preferably is positioned adjacent the head portion of sheet 12 andproximate to a longitudinal edge of the mattress of bed 14 When sheet 12is placed thereon. As illustrated in Fig. 1, disc 16 is placed in aposition whereby the patient may readily reach bell signal 40 whendesired.

Inasmuch as most hospital rooms are provided with an outlet 50 which iselectrically connected to a signaling system for summoning a nurse, suchrooms are conventionally provided with' bell signals such as 40 attachedto a cord 52 which is adapted to be plugged into outlet 50. Therefore,after a sheet 12 having a disc 16 secured thereto, is placed over themattress of bed 14, loop 38 is Wrapped around cord 52 as shown in Fig.l. Thus, bell signal 40 is releasably held in a position readilyaccessible to a patient lying in bed 14.

By provision of anchoring means such as 10, the heretofore practicedmethods of wrapping gauze around bell signal 40 and pinning the same tosheet 12 by a safety pin is precluded and bell signal 40 is renderedaccessible at all times without great effort or movement of the patient.

Also, it is to be pointed out that because of the circular configurationof disc 16 and the fact that tape 28 is secured to disc 16 in such amanner as to be disposed substantially in the center thereof, lateralstrain on disc 16 is equalized irrespective of the direction of pull onloop 38 by a patient operating bell signal 40. It is contemplated thatdisc 16 may be secured to sheet 12 by any number of lines of stitching48, but it is clearly manifest that if a plurality of concentric circlesof stitching 48 are provided, the strain on disc 16 and sheet 12 ismaterially lessened.

It can now be appreciated that there is presented herein a bell signalanchor which renders the bell signal 40 readily accessible to a patientand precludes the necessity of his reaching up to the headboard of bed14 to operate the signal 40 as has been heretofore necessary, as well aseliminating the danger of tearing or mutilating sheet 12 by pinningsignal 40 to the same.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In an anchor adapted to be affixed to a sheet on a hospital bed, acircular disc of highly flexible material, said disc being folded andrefolded to present a relatively narrow, centrally disposed tucl;extending across the disc;v

an elongated, ilexible tape having a pair of free ends, said ends beingdisposed Within the tuck; lines of stitching securing the marginal edgeof the uppermost ,fold to the adjacent face of the member to close thetuck; and lines of stitching through the tuck for securing the ends ofthe tape therein, said tape presenting a loop for releasably holding abell signal 'in a position readily accessible to a patient in the bed.

2. In an lanchor 'adapted to be aixed to a sheet on a hospital bed, a`hat member of flexible material having a reben't peripheral marginedge; an elongated, rebent, flexible tape; means for securing the freeends 'of the tape to the uppermost face of the member to present a loopfor releasably holding a bell signal in a position readily accessible toa patient in the bed, said ends being secured 5to vthe memberapproximately equidistantly from said edge ,of the latter whereby strainon the member is equalized, said member being disc-shaped and providedwith a centrally disposed tuck extending diametrically thereacross andreceiving the ends of the tape.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 553,645Green Jan. 28, 1896 2,137,012 Bobrow Nov. 15, 1938 2,150,486 BjornsonMar. 14, 1939 2,784,423 Droeger et al Mar. 12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTSGermany Feb.

